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Taking a Bite Out of Food Waste

The contribution of greenhouse gases and in particular carbon dioxide to climate change is widely recognised, and reducing our emissions is now a priority. Several key areas have been identified for action, one of which is food waste.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has been leading national activity with its Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which has been adopted by several local authorities and aims to raise awareness of and reduce the amount of food that people throw away - a staggering 8.3 million tonnes of edible food a year in the UK alone1 …

Love Food Hate Waste

To promote Love Food Hate Waste, on behalf of the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), Resource Futures has delivered a series of over sixty roadshows in supermarkets, businesses, libraries and at community groups, across NLWA’s six constituent boroughs. In addition to co-ordinating these events, Resource Futures has composed press releases for NLWA, organised a recipe competition and co-ordinated the production and launch of the resulting recipe book, as well as actively engaging over forty local retailers in the campaign. Furthermore, analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data collected at the roadshows enabled us to select and advise on the most effective engagement techniques.
Resource Futures has provided similar support to Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign, through the development, co-ordination and production of campaign materials - from press and radio ads to billboards.

Playing with our food

Resource Futures, believes that positive engagement is key to achieving changes in behaviour. Hence, we have developed and designed original activities such as Perfect Portions, which is a Love Food Hate Waste branded engagement tool. Simple to use and visually stimulating, Perfect Portions causes people to reassess how much food they prepare, whilst illustrating some easy ways to measure portions correctly. It has proven to be a great success; well received by local authorities, roadshow staff and members of the public alike. Another example is the Wheel of Food; an engaging game ideal for giving the opportunity in which to discuss food waste and which featuring the distinctive WRAP Love Food Hate Waste characters.


For more information contact:
Helen Peacock
Senior Consultant, Communications and Public Engagement Team
07841 372 224 | helen.peacock@resourcefutures.co.uk

1. www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Project Synopses

Food waste collections from Bristol schools

Between 2007 and 2009 Resource Futures worked with Bristol City Council and their contractor to pilot the collection of food waste and cardboard from schools for in-vessel composting, and to roll collections out to most schools in the city. 

In-vessel composting at Stowford Primary School

Resource Futures' Composting in Schools Project supports a school to divert 2½ tonnes of food waste from landfill in one year.

South West region comes together to tackle food waste

In autumn 2009, the South West Waste and Recycling Forum (SWWRF) and Resource Futures worked with all the 35 local authorities (LAs) across the South West to deliver a collaborative campaign on food waste reduction, which was conceived by the forum the previous year.

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